Sony throws down: crack your PS3, get banned

Sony has taken an official stance on jailbroken PlayStation 3s: if you're …

Sony is fighting what may be a long, ugly legal battle to remove all traces of the PlayStation 3 hacks and cracks available online, and now the company has taken the fight directly to gamers. "Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently," Sony announced today.

"By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve," Jeff Rubenstein, Sony Computer Entertainment's Social Media Manager, wrote on the company's official blog.

Sony claims that the policy will not affect the vast majority of PlayStation 3 owners, and says that "circumvention devices and game piracy damage our industry and can potentially injure the online experience for you, our loyal PlayStation customers, via hacks and cheats."

So there we are. If you're running custom firmware, or have an open PlayStation 3, you may want to stay offline for a while. It is not currently known if there is some way for users to run hacked firmware and get around these bans, but one thing is certain: someone, or a group of someones, is already working on a solution to this newest wrinkle in Sony's ongoing effort to keep the PlayStation 3 locked down tight.

I think that Sony has just declared war on the world, and their user base. Even if most people don't want to crack their PS3, many of them will still be P.O.'d at Sony's behavior. Seems like an opportunity for Nintendo (Wii) and MS (X-Box) devices to make some marketing headway at Sony's expense.

I think that Sony has just declared war on the world, and their user base. Even if most people don't want to crack their PS3, many of them will still be P.O.'d at Sony's behavior. Seems like an opportunity for Nintendo (Wii) and MS (X-Box) devices to make some marketing headway at Sony's expense.

You mean the devices that you already get banned for doing the same thing?

I think that Sony has just declared war on the world, and their user base. Even if most people don't want to crack their PS3, many of them will still be P.O.'d at Sony's behavior. Seems like an opportunity for Nintendo (Wii) and MS (X-Box) devices to make some marketing headway at Sony's expense.

I think that Sony has just declared war on the world, and their user base. Even if most people don't want to crack their PS3, many of them will still be P.O.'d at Sony's behavior. Seems like an opportunity for Nintendo (Wii) and MS (X-Box) devices to make some marketing headway at Sony's expense.

This is mostly fine with me. It's their network, so they can make whatever rules they want for access to it. I guess you won't be able to update your games though. That would put homebrew users in a weird position regarding commercial games that they buy. You'd have to buy the game at the store, but then download a pirated version to play an up to date version of the game. Well, unless some other method becomes available to get updates.

Heh, any method not involving the slow PSN would actually be preferable.

This is mostly fine with me. It's their network, so they can make whatever rules they want for access to it. I guess you won't be able to update your games though. That would put homebrew users in a weird position regarding commercial games that they buy. You'd have to buy the game at the store, but then download a pirated version to play an up to date version of the game. Well, unless some other method becomes available to get updates.

Heh, any method not involving the slow PSN would actually be preferable.

Oh, no Netflix then either, right?

I'd imagine that there are ways of getting those updates...in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone took it upon themselves to setup a server with updates for tons of games, and allowed users to connect via the ps3 to run the updates.

Funny how people click through agreements and don't read when they want to get their game on then scream murder when they hack their systems and violate the ToU/ToS (that they didn't read) and those terms are then enforced.

You know... at some point I considered buying a console... I even considered getting a PS3...What a fool was I.I'll stick to my PC with Linux and Cedega, thanks.And stay away from anything that has a Sony brand on it.

Wouldn't it be funny if the very 1st community software made for the PS3 would be PS2 backwards compability?

Probably not possible. PS3 has never had backcompat in software only; when they initially removed the emotion engine they left the GPU in. When they took the GPU out, BC went away entirely. I suspect it is not computationally feasible to emulate the PS2 GPU in software on the PS3.

It's the approach they should have taken from the get-go instead of simply wasting their time and money trying to keep it locked it after it was breached.

Microsoft already does it and it's only normal, you can't allow unverified consoles on an online service. That would be like Blizzard allowing cracked versions of its games on Battle.Net: It would ruin the online experience.

I think the easiest, most consumer friendly option would be to give back the Other OS option, and ban cheaters. Everyone who's dong something legal should be happy then. Then again, if Sony hadn't removed the Other OS option in the first place, this mess might not have happened in the first place.

Good Move by Sony, it is a completely reasonable solution. You want to cheat when your play, then you don't play.

I just wish that they still let me install Linux on it, but then again, that is what my Linux box is for.

It’s not always about cheating or stealing. The other day I cracked my PS3 because my younger son accidentally erased a save game. At first I thought, ‘no problem, GmeFAQ’s users share a lot of their savegames’. So I downloaded a savegame, transferred it to the PS3 then tried to run it. I received an error which, after some research, turned out to be related to some weird savegame DRM. The only workarounds involved hacking the PS3, so that’s what I did.

IMO, companies should ease up on the inane restrictions. It would strengthen their arguments against hacking if the hacks weren’t necessary to carry out various legitimate activities. If the only reason to hack is to play pirated games or to cheat, that would make their position a lot stronger.

You know... at some point I considered buying a console... I even considered getting a PS3...What a fool was I.I'll stick to my PC with Linux and Cedega, thanks.And stay away from anything that has a Sony brand on it.

You know Blizzard bans accounts for hacking on the PC. Can't get away from it.

EDIT: Nevermind, you're not even playing games. Joke.

EDIT2: Actually, what about the other PC networks? Steam and Windows LIVE? I can't recall hearing those with bannings. At least as far as hacking goes.

I think the easiest, most consumer friendly option would be to give back the Other OS option, and ban cheaters. Everyone who's dong something legal should be happy then. Then again, if Sony hadn't removed the Other OS option in the first place, this mess might not have happened in the first place.

This is mostly fine with me. It's their network, so they can make whatever rules they want for access to it. I guess you won't be able to update your games though. That would put homebrew users in a weird position regarding commercial games that they buy. You'd have to buy the game at the store, but then download a pirated version to play an up to date version of the game. Well, unless some other method becomes available to get updates.

Heh, any method not involving the slow PSN would actually be preferable.

Oh, no Netflix then either, right?

I'd imagine that there are ways of getting those updates...in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone took it upon themselves to setup a server with updates for tons of games, and allowed users to connect via the ps3 to run the updates.

You can already do that. Game updates are also available as downloads that can be installed manually in the XMB or through whatever Backup Manager you are using.

I'm certainly no Sony fanboy, but they have the right to control who enters their network, and therefore I don't and never have used PSN. They don't however, have the right to remove advertised features from a product mid-lifespan. This is why they are in the mess they are now. Had they left it alone, they would still have a closed console.

They aren't insane. MS bricks consoles if they catch you with homebrew. So why can't Sony? ( though I get from this that they are completely banning PSN accounts instead )

MS doesn't brick consoles, they ban the console from connecting to XBL.

Yeah I realized my error after and just didn't edit it. -10 for not clarifying

They don't brick them, but they certainly do cripple them. Using a banned console will make it so that you can not earn achievements, and will corrupt any saved games should you try to move them to an unbanned console.

Good Move by Sony, it is a completely reasonable solution. You want to cheat when your play, then you don't play.

I just wish that they still let me install Linux on it, but then again, that is what my Linux box is for.

It’s not always about cheating or stealing. The other day I cracked my PS3 because my younger son accidentally erased a save game. At first I thought, ‘no problem, GmeFAQ’s users share a lot of their savegames’. So I downloaded a savegame, transferred it to the PS3 then tried to run it. I received an error which, after some research, turned out to be related to some weird savegame DRM. The only workarounds involved hacking the PS3, so that’s what I did.

IMO, companies should ease up on the inane restrictions. It would strengthen their arguments against hacking if the hacks weren’t necessary to carry out various legitimate activities. If the only reason to hack is to play pirated games or to cheat, that would make their position a lot stronger.

True, and I have voided a few warranties in my time But they have to do something, and not stopping 100 people who hack their system for the 1 that has a legit reason to violate the user agreement is not really something they can do, is it?